Worthless in a Couple of Years?

Elizabeth Perez
ENC 1102

We are living in a time, where superior education is becoming the base that solidifies our society. However, the index of graduation levels related to the residents of the United States and to those of Florida is alarming. In the world that we belong to, human beings make decisions according to their needs and situations. Lamentably, many of us have opted to put college and diplomas to the side due to economic difficulties. Therefore, one more sector in education has been affected, mainly because of the digits witnessing the upcoming employment catastrophe.  This catastrophe is like a tsunami, a slow motion killer. The experts know where it began but they cannot assure its trajectory.

Think of education as a house construction project. To build a house there are essential materials that must be used. The contractor makes sure all the expenses are covered without trouble so they can finish with no inconvenient. As students, using a constructor’s mind to plan our years of study is extremely important. Many do so and pursue their studies right through college or universities; others are unable due to economic factors. Some of them start to live their dreams, but sadly this dream becomes a horrible nightmare when bills start knocking their doors with incredible quantities of digits. Therefore, they start to follow the steps of Bill Gates who became “the world’s leading maker of computer software” possessing a fortune of 36 billion dollar. They drop out of school thinking that if he was able to reach his dreams with no college preparation, they can do so as well.

Students have seen what it is like to live in this time; job market demand is constantly changing. We live in the era of technology, the era of uncertainty. Students fear that the career they are paying for right now will be worthless in a couple of years. As a matter of fact, since 1996 college tuition has been duplicated. When talking to Tal Landes, a current student at Miami Dade Community College, he claimed: “Challenges! I have been facing many of them since I enrolled in Miami Dade College. I am an international student -he implied- the language is kind of hard for me since I speak Hebrew. However, the worst part is that I have to pay three times the amount of tuition that any other student of Florida pays.” Language doesn’t look like such a huge barrier to overcome when he has other economic issues to deal with. We go to college because, as students we believe it’s necessary to be a part of higher education. However, we might conclude that, in the world we live in, a lucrative career that will take us 9 or 10 years of study is not the ideal choice. To become a psychologist meant a lot to me, 7 to 9 years of study and that was all, but what was I going to do after getting all my diplomas and licenses? I would become one more unemployed psychologist with an enormous debt in my pocket. As Eleanor Blayney mentioned, “students need to be more reasonable” (Why college stop short of a degree). They need to face the facts and adjust themselves to difficult situations.

This problem aggravates day by day, according to the College Board, tuition grew gradually between 1980-81 by 92%. Even though, student all around the world are left with no other choice in their desire to excel intellectually. They are obliged to ask for loans, debts of a large amount of money. John O’Connor mentions in his article Florida Not Producing Enough College Graduates To Meet Job Market Demand, that the prospective of the Lumina Foundation are based on the need of 59% of the population with college degrees by the year of 2018; reality shows a different story. Javier Valdes, who recently graduated from college admitted: “The greatest challenge that I had to face starting my higher education was to plan how to pay for College. I ended up asking for a loan. Nonetheless, I applied for many scholarships, which covered a considerable percentage of my tuition. Even by now, I owe much more than half of the debt and the worst part is that currently, it’s almost impossible to get a good job with no experience. I feel attached to a diploma and drowning with such a huge debt”. Many students enrolled in Miami Dade College share the same opinion and they fear the ominous upcoming times.

In fact, many have followed the steps of the great minds who have achieved success without using time and resources in universities. Considering what John O’Connor said a question raises in our minds: Which will be the catalyst that will boost job demand so high in just four years? By analyzing the pitiful situation of the students nowadays, Daniel Cheerer, president of Simmons College in Boston warns: “we don’t know yet whether the debts will affect this graduates who may not be able to buy houses or go into their field of choice or save for their children’s education because of the debts”. These financial struggles are leading many students to look for alternatives while trying to save money, preventing this way to fall in irreversible debt.

These relevant economic disadvantages have triggered another issue. Dr. Padron, president of Miami Dade College presents the subject this way: “our current graduation rate is 39% for college ready students and only 18% for underprepared students (…) no one at MDC would say this is good enough. Far from it”. In fact, the numbers are significant, only 39% accomplished their goals. Nonetheless, if we consider the average amount of graduate from different colleges over the country, the number reaches up to 38.3%, concluding that our 39% is not as awful. Still, Dr. Padron has some sort of urgency in making this change part of reality. He is very persuasive when notifying about the low rates of College graduates from MDC. In a way, he mentions that if we don’t work towards changing those numbers, someone else from outside will impose standards to do it for us.

He is conscious of the moment we are living in. We are going through a crisis, an economic crisis that is affecting each of us at every level. Therefore, we are working with the challenges not against them. We are accepting the fact that they are real and that they will stay. The questions that arise at this point are: what is the solution? Why are the numbers so important? Numbers are just numbers, digits, and symbols. We are the ones responsible for ascribing meaning to those figures.

In fact, we could affirm that this 39% is not even a real number. In their eagerness to get their own degrees many students have twisted the way to reach their goals. Instead of going directly to a good University, they have been fallowing a Certified Financial Planner, Eleanor Blayney’s advice which encourages students to do “their first two years at a community college and then transfer”. The interesting part in this little detail is that those students who transferred out to a different university and got their diplomas are not counted as graduates of the community college that they attended previously. Technically, they never graduated, which is the trick with the numbers. Sometimes they are unable to show what is underlying the figures.

A student in my English class asked once: “Why would someone transfer to a different school, what is the purpose?” A couple of reasons support this point. Firstly, some students want to graduate from a prestigious university. Thus, they start saving money in a community college, once they finish their prerequisites they can go on to a more influential institution. On the other hand, once you check the academic programs offered by MDC you will find only few bachelor opportunities. Most of the programs include Associates in Science and Art. The general option is to transfer later on to another university. Otherwise, you either get the A.S or you end up restricted to pick among the bachelors that they have on Public Safety, Secondary Education or Electronic Engineering Technology. If those are not your areas of interest, you will be left with no options besides transferring.

As the president of MDC, Dr. Padron is aware of these facts. He knows well enough what numbers mean. Obviously, he is kind of disappointed with the graduation average. The interesting part about his letter to the faculty is that he talks about the college, the students, and the faculty as part of a production. His factory is designed to meet a specific goal, a precise quantity. However, it looks like the “status quo” is failing and he is foreseeing a difference. Sadly, this is not exactly the difference he is talking about; it involves a difference in his position as president of the factory. If he is not able to make MDC a real College, his nightmares, “the impositions of standards and practice from outside the College, will become true”. Therefore, what is he asking the faculty to do? He needs them to cooperate with their “creative inputs and collaborative efforts” (Dr. Padron). As he said, challenges in our lives are not decreasing, so what creative inputs will help the students to achieve their goals and finally get their degrees? If the professors have to collaborate with the students, does that mean that college will become easier since the rest of the difficulties are not backing up? Dr. Padron seems very decided to make accelerated differences. He wants to see immediate growing, numbers, regarding graduation issues.

This is not a local problem that is affecting only MDC; it has become a puzzle with no apparent solution hitting the nation as a whole. The numbers of graduates are not changing to the desired figures. They might even fall as students find out all the new terms and conditions of Financial Aid, introducing more serious dilemmas. The future keeps on shading its path, so we are not able to predetermine with some level of security what will be happening the day after tomorrow. Still, we all agree that education is a fundamental anchor in our civilization. However, it’s getting harder to support the expectations of becoming part of a higher education. Nevertheless, we will always try to make a difference, a difference in college, a difference in society, a difference in our future career.

Works Cited

Merisotis, Jamie P. "More than Mere Data, 'Stronger Nation' Report Is a Call for Change | Lumina Foundation." More than Mere Data, 'Stronger Nation' Report Is a Call for Change | Lumina Foundation. Http://www.luminafoundation.org. Web. 10 June 2012. <http://www.luminafoundation.org/state_work/message_from_our_president>.

O'Connor, John. "Florida Not Producing Enough College Graduates To Meet Job Market Demand." StateImpact. Local Public Media and NPR, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/03/28/florida-not-producing-enough-college-graduates-to-meet-job-market-demand/>.

Padron, Eduardo. "To Make a Difference." 7 May 2012. E-mail

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Valdes, Javier. "College Challenges." Interview by Elizabeth Perez.

"Why college students stop short of a degree." Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012.